Change
by ClaireAvery
Summary: "Look around the room, will you?" Sakura didn't bother looking around while entering but now that her master pointed it out she turned her head only to meet with dark onyx eyes staring at her. It was a figure of a tall man with spiky dark hair and stoic expression. "Sakura" he said with calm and emotionless voice. Sakura's smile quickly dropped. Her face became serious."


Chapter 1

Small footsteps were heard in the hall. The door opened and emerald eyes entered the room. Sakura, pink haired girl with sparkling eyes stood in front of her master. "You called, Tsunade-Sama?" She asked politely. "Ah Sakura! Just in time. I wanted you to be the first one to see it" Blonde haired woman, who was actually the Hokage of the Hidden leaf village smirked at her student. Sakura smiled back, although her smile never reached her eyes. "To see what ma'am?" "Look around the room, will you?" Sakura didn't bother looking around while entering but now that her master pointed it out she turned her head only to meet with dark onyx eyes staring at her. It was a figure of a tall man with spiky dark hair and stoic expression. "Sakura" he said with calm and emotionless voice. Sakura's smile quickly dropped. Her face became serious. The man standing in front of her, was the one that left her 5 years ago crying on a bench. The one who abandoned his friends and village. The one who attempted her murder. But he was also the man who long ago was her friend and love of her life. "Uchiha Sasuke, is it? What a surprise to see you" Sasuke eyed the girl standing in front of him. That was not the same girl he left 5 years ago. She was not the girl that confessed her love to him. This girl… no woman, was something entirely different. Where did her genuine smile disappear? Or her soft and loving voice? Where was the excitement she had every time she saw him? But to be honest, he did expect cold greeting. After all, one year ago or so, he did try to kill her. Although things changed, memories still stayed the same and he knew it all well. They both were glaring at each other when Tsunade's coughing caused their attention. "I know it's surprising, but this case has been on for several weeks now. Uchiha indeed is a rogue ninja, actually was a rogue ninja. But the elders and I, with approval of other great nations, decided that he could have a second chance, with punishment of course. He is on probation for one year, he is not allowed to leave the village during this time but during this period he will regain he statue of the shinobi of hidden leaf and will continue from where he left off. I want you, Haruno Sakura, to personally assist Uchiha Sasuke during this time so he can start with right foot. I would assign this job to Naruto but I know he would screw it up by causing a fight or something." Sakura slowly followed the information her master was giving. She indeed was surprised by her old teammate's return but to say that she was happy about it or even the fact that she must have been the one to assist him, would be an understatement. She was not happy at all and her master knew it well. "I know Sakura about your tough schedule, missions and hospital all at once, but this is my personal request to you, because I trust you the most". Sakura knew she had no choice so opposing wouldn't work. She sighed. "I respect you and your request, so that's why I am going to do it. You can count on me." funny, it's what Naruto always said. Did her blonde haired friend know about certain boy's return? Oh boy would he be excited about it. "Thank you, Sakura" and without further saying anything both left the tower. Sasuke was going behind Sakura. He was curiously looking at her back. Was she so not fond of the idea to be assisting him? Five years ago she would have killed for the position. But Sasuke reminded himself that this girl was not the same girl he once knew. Even without much talking he could sense that she changed. She was not annoying as she used to be. She didn't go crazy about him. In fact, she didn't really enjoy his presence. Sasuke knew that returning back would be hard. Everything was different. All of them were different. But he had to finish what his brother had started. It took him long enough, but Sasuke finally saw things from Itachi's point of view. He didn't come back to leave a happy and normal life. He came back to restore his clan's dignity. After all, this village was closest thing he had to home. And his clan's name and Itachi's sacrifice must not go in vein. "Look" Sakura's voice made him come back from his thoughts. "I will be honest and say that I am not very fond of the idea of babysitting you for one year. But it's a request I can't turn down. I really hope you won't be a pain in the ass and will do exactly as I tell you." "Hn." was all he said. "Still not talkative I see? Well it's better this way, I would die if you were like Naruto" at the mention of Naruto's name Sasuke remembered his old "friend". He still hadn't seen him. And just as he was thinking a loud voice was heard. "Sakura-chan!" Sakura turned around and saw a blonde haired boy running towards them. But when Naruto saw who was standing next to Sakura he stopped. His blue eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe the sight that was in front of him. "It's been a while Naruto" cold voice spoke. "S-sasuke? What are… What is he doing here Sakura-chan?" "Apparently, Naruto, he returned to the village. Why did he do it, or why elders approved it, is something I neither know nor understand". Sasuke glared at Sakura. She spoke cynically. Then he turned to face Naruto. "I returned for my own reasons, why did they let me is their business." "Of course it is." Said Sakura sarcastically. Naruto still had a surprised look on his face. "That's it? You just came back?" "I did." "TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH YOU STUBBORN PAIN IN THE ASS! FIVE GODDAMN YEARS TO REALIZE THIS IS WHERE YOU BELONG TEME!" Naruto was same as usual, always the loudest one. "Don't be so loud, dobe". "Well Naruto since you two have a lot to catch up on, you can lead him to his apartment and I will go back to the hospital." "Already running away from your responsibilities?" Sasuke smirked but Sakura only glared with cold eyes. "I was assigned to assist you if needed, not to walk you home everyday and cook you dinner. I think that much you will manage. Now excuse me." Sakura started walking off. Sasuke expected Naruto to shout after her, try to make her come with them but surprisingly he didn't. When Sasuke looked at him, Naruto was looking at the pink haired kunoichi's back. Sasuke could sense worry in his eyes. When Naruto remembered about his friend standing besides him, he quickly turned to Sasuke. "Well, then what should we do? Spar or go to eat ramen? Or both?" Typical Naruto. "Let's just go eat ramen." "Oh look Sasuke-teme became afraid of sparring with great Uzumaki!" "In your dreams, dobe". While Naruto eating his sixth bowl, Sasuke was still finishing his first. Then he unexpectedly began to talk. "What happened to Sakura?" Naruto raised his brow. "What do you mean, what happened to her?" "She is… different" Naruto sighed. "Well of course, I mean you haven't seen her for years and the last visit was not really friendly but… Look she changed, a lot. She is not happy, giggling girl you once knew. She is much serious and colder. To be honest, I sometime miss the girl she was. It's like she was the sun in our messed up team. But I guess everything that's happened ruined her. She closed the pathway to herself and doesn't let anybody in, except me sometimes. She usually works at the hospital day and night and if she is not there, then she is probably at some A ranked mission, kicking some dude's ass. She became really strong and put everything in her training. Sometimes I go and check on her training with Tsunade baa-chan and seeing how she pushes herself to the edge, scares me. I thought that maybe it was you, who she was missing. Maybe if you came back she would go back to being a cheery Sakura but you are here and she is cold as ever. " Sasuke couldn't really imagine, his old, full of life, teammate to have such a change of hearts. He always thought that nothing could replace that cheering personality but he was wrong. Was he the one responsible for who Sakura became? Not that he cared, but he was curious of what has happened to young kunoichi.

Meanwhile Sakura was in an emergency room, trying her best to save a bleeding man's life. It was not something new to her. She was a top medic ninja, so the only cases she took where emergencies and complicated surgeries. The bleeding stopped and the heart rate of the man regulated. Sakura let out a breath. The person was saved. She took off her gloves and scrubbed out. Sakura was particularly tired that day. But it was not because of the surgery. The incident that happened earlier in the day bothered her. Her old teammate was back. That changed things. Would Tsunade really go as far as rejoining old team 7? Would she have to work with him again? She didn't like the idea. Sakura, Naruto and Sai already performed a perfect teamwork. Adding Sasuke to the group would ruin things. Not that she couldn't handle it or anything, she just didn't want an extra burden during her missions. She smirked at her thoughts. The way she was thinking now is probably how Sasuke thought about her 5 years ago. Funny how things change, right?

Sakura entered her cozy apartment. She adored this place. It was what her parents had got her, on her 17th birthday. After a tiring day from the hospital, or some hard mission she always came back to warm and silent place. She had lots of books on the shelves. And in the evenings she sat in her comfortable chair and read some medical books. It was the best part of her day. That was the moment she felt her muscles relax. And just for a little bit, she could afford to let her guard down. But now Sakura was even tired to do that. She took off her shoes and went straight to her bedroom. The room was dark without lights on and you couldn't see a thing. But the moment Sakura entered, she knew that something was off. Someone was in her room. She quickly recognized the chakra coming from behind the door in the corner. "What are you doing here?" Sakura spoke calmly. Then a tall figure came out of the shadows. "Your senses got better." That's all he said. Sakura being tired wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible. "I don't think you came here to test my senses. What do you want Sasuke?" She looked at him straight in the eyes. He stood there, for a moment he was not sure whom he was talking to. He constantly needed to be reminded that this was the new version of Sakura. Despite what Naruto said about him missing the old Sakura, Sasuke quite enjoyed the new one. She was far more mature and serious. "You are a top medic ninja." That sounded more like a statement rather than question. "So what if I am?" Sakura grew impatient. Who the hell he thought he was? Barging in her apartment at night and not really telling her anything. "I need a medical check up." Sakura raised her eyebrow. "What happened?" "I had some incident before I came here. My eyesight is getting worse." "And you need my help?" Sasuke didn't like the way she put it. He did not need her help. But his eyes really needed a medic to look after them. Even if he didn't admit it, Sakura was the only one he trusted with his precious eyes. "I want you to look at them." Sakura shot him a cold glare. He did not have any rights to command her. But Tsunade put her in charge of him. That also included his medical check up. She would refuse, if she could but her duties didn't let her. Sakura sighed, which she did a lot these days. "Come to the hospital tomorrow, I will look at your eyes" A faint smirk appeared on Sasuke's face. Though it was dark in the room, Sakura still got a glimpse of it, and that irritated her. "Now get out of my apartment, I need some sleep." She demanded coldly. Sasuke's only response was "Hn." and he was out of her room. Sakura shook her head in disapproval. Just what did Tsunade-sama get her into. And with that, Sakura fell on her bed and closed her eyes.

Next day was the same as any other typical weekdays. Sakura was in the hospital doing a heart transplant. It was quite a serious surgery but nothing Sakura couldn't handle. When she walked out of the operating room she headed straight to her office. Surprisingly she found a person waiting for her in there. "How long have you been waiting?" She asked not even looking at him as she fixed papers on her desk. "Two hours." Seriosuly? Sakura thought. The nurse must have told him that she was in surgery, so why didn't he come back later? "You could have just come later. You wasted 2 hours for nothing." He didn't respond to that. Sakura looked up at him. He was eyeing her with his dark onyx eyes. She couldn't read what he was thinking. His eyes didn't give her any clues. But it was usual. Sakura knew she could never see what was behind that stoic expression he held. And honestly, she didn't really care. "Okay, follow me to the examining rom". They entered a room with full of equipment for check ups. "Lie down" Sakura ordered and Sasuke obeyed. It was her territory now, he had no right to oppose. She took a flashlight and pointed at his eyes. Sasuke was looking at her. Sakura's features were more curved out. Her light green eyes refused to give any sign of softness. But what caught Sasuke's attention was the way she had her muscles tensed. Every time she touched him it was like she was touching a poison. She had her guard up. It was like she was expecting him to burst out and choke her to death. Sasuke didn't blame her for having such thoughts. He did really try to choke her, and stab with kunai. Sakura must really feel uncomfortable around him. In that moment Sakura suddenly walked over the table standing in the corner and brought back syringe in her hands. Sasuke stiffened and Sakura noticed it. "Relax. I just need to run some blood test. Also I need to do an MRI on you. To see if everything is okay with your brain". Somehow Sasuke knew that the last sentence was not spoken from only medical point of view. Sakura carefully took his blood and went to the laboratory leaving Sasuke alone. He eyed the room curiously. This was the place where Sakura spent most of her time. He wouldn't be able to take it. This place was just too sick. Sakura returned with papers in her hands. "Please come with me for MRI". Sasuke was lying in a big white machine. 20 minutes past and he was growing impatient. What was this stupid test all about? What the machine could show them about his brain? But then he heard the sound of the machine stop. Machine opened and Sasuke was now looking at the pink haired doctor. "You are free. Come back after three days. We will have your test results and diagnosis ready by that time." Sasuke nodded. He was going to say thank you but the words never left his mouth. For some unexplainable reason, he could not tell her that. Maybe because these were the words he told her before knocking her off and leaving on a bench. He just left the place and went back to his apartment.


End file.
